CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS ARE SUGARY SWEET

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the inspiration behind this RCS challenge.  I'm one of those seasonal scrapbookers....I don't scrapbook chronologically; I go with what motivates me at the time.  And with my gazillion Christmas pictures right now, that's what motivates me!  And I knew just the pictures I wanted to use for this challenge; our structurally sound gingerbread house!  It's been a tradition for my girls to build a gingerbread house every year.  Now, this isn't your normal, edible gingerbread house....this house can withstand all sorts of natural disasters ranging from an accidental dropping to an attack by the dog.....Why you ask?  Because Daddy uses the caulking gun instead of icing.....So while it looks deliciously good, it would really do a number on your teeth and intestinal tract.  Once I decided on the pictures, I searched through my growing stash of paper and found the cutest Doodlebug design Christmas paper with gingerbread men & peppermint sticks on it; perfect for this challenge!  So that is the story behind this layout!

THE SANTA CLAUS CHALLENGE

As I look at this picture for the latest RCS challenge, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that my children are alive.  I was trying to finish up this page when the horrific news hit the TV yesterday about the tragedy in Newtown, CT. These girls are my life.  I remember their first day of kindergarten.....they were so excited to ride the big girl bus.  They came home with little tags attached to their clothes that said, "I live at.....I ride bus..." in case they got lost.  As the weeks progressed, they came home singing silly songs, showing me beautiful pieces of artwork they created....My younger daughter even started reading on her own very early into her Kindergarten experience.  It was magical to watch them grow.  At Christmas time, they were so excited to visit Santa in their lunchroom (a tradition being featured in this layout).  As they progressed through the grades, my overwhelming sense of worry began to subside.  Nothing bad could happen to them at elementary school, right?....That all changed yesterday.  In summary, this was an extremely bittersweet page to make for this challenge.  I am so thankful that this morning I got to wake up with my two beautiful little girls alive and excited for Christmas.  I am so heartbroken for the innocence lost in this country.  And mostly, I am so incredibly saddened for the families who are facing the unimaginable in the upcoming days, weeks, months, years ahead......I guess in the words of the sticker found at the bottom of my page, we have to believe......Believe that something good will come from this sickening act of violence.  A colleague of mine posted this on her facebook page yesterday, and I think it's a good way to end this blog entry:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world.”
— Mister Rogers

SEASIDE ESCAPE

For this challenge for Red Carpet Studios, we were asked to make a movie based on "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."  I remember the first time I watched this movie.....I was in High School, I was at a basketball game on a Saturday night, my Dad picked me up early for some reason....I came home, plopped down on the couch, was flipping through the channels, and found this movie on HBO.  Little did I realize that a Christmas tradition began for me and my family.  It's not Christmas in the Thompson house (my parents) until this movie is watched at least once.  (And it already has been watched at least once this year and it's only November!)  I think we all can relate to Clark Griswold wanting his family to have the best Christmas ever, and it turns into a disaster.  While we have had some Griwoldesque Christmas' in my family (the worst was when my Dad went into the hospital on Christmas Eve with a kidney stone, my husband backed his truck out of our driveway to hit our neighbor's relative visiting from Washington, and our Christmas Eve dinner that we spent the entire day cooking being ate in another location because of all the mishaps....), I chose to focus on the "vacation" portion.  I took this picture of my daughter this past summer during our family vacation to Panama City, Florida.  We had a terrific time and fortunately, no Clark Griswold moments.  Before my old scrapbook store Simply Scrapbooks closed, I stocked up on this Fancy Pants beach paper.  I loved the swirly ocean water on the paper and decided it would look great with the picture of my daughter hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico.